Congressman: DOJ Seized House Press Gallery Phone Records *UPDATED*

*UPDATED* Congressman Nunes’ office released the following statement: “Rep. Nunes was not referring to wiretapping of the cloakroom, but to the seizure of the AP’s phone records from the House Press Gallery in the Capitol. He was explaining that those records would reveal a lot of conversations between the press and members of Congress, since reporters often speak to Members from the press gallery phones. The notion of the DOJ looking at phone records from the Capitol of conversations between Members of Congress and reporters is something that concerns Rep. Nunes, bringing up issues related to the separation of powers.”

Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA), who sits on the House Ways And Means Committee, dropped a bombshell on Hugh Hewitt’s Show, Wednesday night. Nunes was on the show to talk about his committee’s upcoming hearing Friday into IRS-gate. The congressman broke news when he alleged that the Justice Department seized phone records from the House of Representatives as part of their investigation of the AP.

HH: The idea that this might be a Geithner-Axelrod plan, and by that, the sort of intimation, Henry II style, will no one rid me of this turbulent priest, will no one rid me of these turbulent Tea Parties, that might have just been a hint, a shift of an eyebrow, a change in the tone of voice. That’s going to take a long time to get to. I don’t trust the Department of Justice on this. Do you, Congressman Nunes?

DN: No, I absolutely do not, especially after this wiretapping incident, essentially, of the House of Representative. I don’t think people are focusing on the right thing when they talk about going after the AP reporters. The big problem that I see is that they actually tapped right where I’m sitting right now, the Cloak Room.

HH: Wait a minute, this is news to me.

DN: The Cloak Room in the House of Representatives.

HH: I have no idea what you’re talking about.

DN: So when they went after the AP reporters, right? Went after all of their phone records, they went after the phone records, including right up here in the House Gallery, right up from where I’m sitting right now. So you have a real separation of powers issue that did this really rise to the level that you would have to get phone records that would, that would most likely include members of Congress, because as you know…

HH: Wow.

DN: …members of Congress talk to the press all the time.

HH: I did not know that, and that is a stunner.

DN: Now that is a separation of powers issue here, Hugh.

HH: Sure.

DN: And it’s a freedom of press issue. And now you’ve got the IRS going after people. So these things are starting to cascade one upon the other, and you have the White House pretending like they’re in the clouds like it’s not their issue somehow.

According to FOX19.com-Cincinnati News, the two allegedly “rogue” “low level” employees charged with overly aggressively handling requests from conservative groups over the past two years from the Cincinnati IRS office, were “simply doing what their bosses ordered”.